Samarkand, September 6, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has called for a digital future that combines technological progress with inclusion, individual rights and equal opportunities, while highlighting India’s digital transformation and growing technology cooperation with Uzbekistan.
Addressing the 12th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference in Samarkand on “Digital Access and Rights in a Digital Era”, Chadha said India had demonstrated that digital expansion and inclusion could advance together.
“India has shown that digital scale and inclusion can go hand in hand,” he said, pointing to a network of more than one billion people using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for instant digital payments.
Chadha also highlighted the recent elevation of India-Uzbekistan relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
He referred to the agreement between Uzbekistan’s National Interbank Processing Centre and India’s UPI ecosystem, saying interoperability between the two systems would simplify digital payments for Indian travellers and students in Uzbekistan.
On digital rights, Chadha outlined four principles — access, agency, safety and opportunity. Referring to the Digital India initiative launched in 2015, he said internet subscribers had increased from 250 million in 2014 to more than one billion, while the cost of 1 GB of data had fallen from Rs 269 to Rs 8.
He said UPI had grown from 90,000 transactions in its first month in 2016 to more than 240 billion transactions worth Rs 314 trillion in 2025-26.
Chadha stressed that the significance of UPI lay not merely in transaction volumes but in its impact on ordinary citizens, including street vendors and rural workers.
On safety, he cited privacy protections and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, while also referring to India’s requirement for clear labelling of AI-generated content. He said technological freedom and citizen safety should not be treated as opposing objectives.
Emphasising opportunity, Chadha said digital skills were essential for young people to move from being technology consumers to creators and innovators.
He concluded by calling for a digital future where technological advancement is matched by equal access, strong data protection and safeguards against exploitation.
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